Native American Controversy
Controversy has been swirling for a quite a while now over schools and professional teams with nicknames and mascots related to Native Americans. All over the country schools have team names like ?Redskins,? ?Indians,? ?Apaches,? and ?Chiefs.? However, schools with nicknames like these are now facing criticism and pressure to change their names, since these mascot nicknames are often offensive to Native American Indians. It is this argument that has sparked the consideration that the local baseball team should voluntary change their name from ?The Indians.?Although many schools have voluntarily abandoned Indian-related nicknames in the last few years, the debates about this issue have played out intensely elsewhere. The board of the University of North Dakota, which was considering changing the school?s nickname from ?the Fighting Sioux,? suddenly voted 8-0 to keep the name, after an alumnus threatened to pull the $35 million gift he was giving to build a new hockey stadium. The basic argument is not too hard to figure out; many Native Americans and other people consider these mascots demeaning, insulting, and dehu
In story after story, it is the alumni, not the students, who object most to changing a school?s nickname. It would be best if the local areas were poled to determine what the town residence thinks before any action is taken. They often say that changing the nickname is caving in to what they see as wrong-headed ?political correctness. Many supporters of this nickname say that since the name is in honor of the Utes? tribe, following a meeting of the University Officials and a council from the Utes? tribe it was determined that the team name could be maintained, ?as long as the university used the Ute name in a positive manor. According to Barbara Munsom, of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association, ?Stereotypes, ignorance, silent inaction and even naive innocence damage and destroy individual lives and whole cultures. Signs would say something like, ?Redskin scalps, worth so much?. ? Furthermore, poles conducted by Peter Harris Research Group Inc. The University of Utah calls its sports teams the Running Utes. Many former students see themselves as a Warrior, or an Apache and they do not want to lose that identity. Many critics say these nicknames should be removed and replaced with less demeaning titles. However, it is best to take into the considerations of both parties for discrimination associated with team names has varied throughout the country, and it is very possible that in the surrounding neighborhoods could have more of a problem with discrimination of Native Americans then other areas. Not only are school mascots targeted here, four of the most recognized sports teams and logos in America belong to the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Washington Redskins. ?We experience it as no less than a mockery of our cultures.
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